The Centre has asked the Supreme Court to grant it more time to complete consultations with states and Union territories on the issue of identification and granting of minority status to Hindus in the states where their numbers have gone below others saying that the matter is sensitive in nature.

“It is humbly submitted that since the matter is sensitive in nature and will have far-reaching ramifications, this court may kindly consider allowing more time to enable the state governments/union territories and stakeholders with whom the consultative meetings have already been held, to finalise their considered views in the matter,” centre said in its fourth affidavit in response to pleas filed by lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay and others.

The centre stated that “14 States Governments namely Punjab, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, West Bengal, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and 3 Union Territories namely Ladakh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Chandigarh have furnished their comments/views.”

“Some of the state governments/Union Territories have requested for additional time to have wider consultations with all the stakeholders before they form their considered opinion on the matter… The state governments were requested that in view of the urgency of the matter, they should expeditiously undertake the exercise with stakeholders in this regard so as to ensure that the views of the State Government are finalised and conveyed to the Ministry of Minority Affairs at the earliest,” the affidavit added.

The petitioners relied on the Supreme Court’s landmark 2002 decision in the TMA Pai case and have cast doubts on the legal sanctity of the consultation process with the states, saying that after the ruling in the case, the Centre cannot notify anyone as minority anymore and, therefore, whatever deliberations it may be holding under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 “cannot confirm minority status to anybody in a state”.

The Centre, in August too, had sought more time from the apex court to hold meetings with states and Union Territories on the issue.

In May, this year, the top court pulled up the government for not taking a clear stand on the issue and said the issue of identification of minorities in the states needs a resolution.